Transcript 0:00 All right. Good morning, and welcome back to The VIP Seat. Today is July 1st. It's officially summer. Preston, have you had any, uh, fun in your summer this year yet? You know, I have had a fair bit of fun this summer. 0:12 I spent a week at the beach. As viewers of YouTube may recognize, I had a different background for a week, and then last week I spent a week off the grid in Montana, completely unplugged. Nice. 0:22 First time I've done that maybe ever for a full week. Uh, not, not ever, but in a really long time, probably 10 years, and, uh, it was awesome. That's amazing. Amazing. Those are goals. 0:32 I don't know if I could do that, but [laughs] I'm glad that you were able to. It was, it was tough. It was tough. I realized very quickly how addicted to my phone I am. I was like, "Ah, okay. I have a problem." Uh-huh. 0:43 Uh, yeah. Maybe, maybe we'll start, like, a LinkedIn group of, like, Cellphones Anonymous, and, uh- [laughs]... we'll, we'll all like, "Hi, my name is Preston, and I'm addicted to my phone." 0:53 You'll be in a lot of good company, I'm sure. [laughs] Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. 0:59 So to kick things off this week, before we go into our regularly scheduled news commentary and stories, I just have to send a PSA out there, because on Netflix the movie Plane is now, you know, available. 1:11 This came out two years ago apparently. I missed it entirely, which was apparently a great thing at the time, because this is the absolute worst aviation film I've ever seen in my entire life. 1:20 So unbelievable and unrealistic, I was literally screaming at the TV for the first 30 minutes. So just letting you guys know out there that are listening, do not watch this film. Yes, it's summer. 1:30 Maybe you're, like, running low on what movies you wanna watch and you're like, "Oh, it's got a plane in it. I love planes. I'll watch it." Don't. Do not do it. [laughs] That's hilarious. 1:39 There's some really bad pop culture moments for airplanes. Like, I feel like- like Taylor Sheridan, great example. The dude loves planes. 1:48 I think we've talked about this before, that, like, you watch Land Man, and, like, planes show up, like, every other episode. And I was watching it with some friends and they're like, "What kind of plane is that?" 1:57 I was like, "That's a Global 7500." "What plane's that?" "That's a King Air." "What plane's that?" "That is a clapped-out Citation Bravo." 2:05 [laughs] You know, and it's, like, just a- an obsession, obsession with private aviation, uh, Taylor Sheridan, I feel like he does. 2:12 You know, there's, there's a couple of cutaways where you're like, "Ah, that was not what you thought that was." 2:18 Like, uh, you know, the taxi scene is, like, y- a Gulfstream, and then a, a Global pulls up and you're like, "Well, okay, technically not." Uh- Yeah... the worst about that is actually the Kardashians. 2:30 The Kardashians had this atrocious one where, like, the taxi scene was a G550, and then it showed the inside of a Citation X, and I was like- Mm. Very close... those are not the same. Yeah. 2:41 The one that always gets me too is, like, every single time, like, someone's boarding a private aircraft, they're inside of a hangar. I'm like, "How- Right... how does this make any sense?" 2:49 We're not turning the plane on when you're inside of the hangar, but, uh, I guess it's easier to shoot and better controlling for the weather. That I can accept. 2:56 I will take those little, like, aviation things that only we would probably know about. In this case, it was so utterly obvious to anyone who's, like, had anything to do, like, with getting on a plane once in their life. 3:07 So just avoid, avoid the trouble, I gotta say. What was, what was the worst one? I haven't seen it, and so, like, spoiler alert if you don't, if you don't want us to spoil it for you. But, like, what was the worst? 3:16 Like, what was the most atrocious, like, mistake on it? Well, uh, I mean, the first thing that happens in the movie is that it crashes because lightnings, lightning hits it. Hmm. 3:25 And somehow they have to get on the ground by gliding even though the engines are still operable, but there's something wrong with a battery. 3:34 So the whole, the whole crash doesn't make any sense, and then everything else associated with the whole thing doesn't make any sense. 3:40 I've seen people online saying, like, the interior didn't match the exterior of the plane, they were two different planes. The flight attendants do weird and wacky stuff that no flight attendant would ever do. 3:48 It's just... It was just bad. Just don't. Just don't do it. Say- protect yourself. It's not worth it. That's the PS. 3:54 Look, you come to The VIP Seat for our insights and our sassy takes, and that was, uh, that pretty good one. Yeah. Well, in good news, though, we- looks like we might be getting our big beautiful bill signed this week. 4:06 Hmm. The biggest and the beautifulest bill- [laughs]... you have ever seen in your life, ever. Um, it does look like we're getting the big beautiful bill. It has caused a lot of tension in, uh, in politics. 4:21 Uh, there's been, I know that, uh, Trump and Elon had a big falling out over the big beautiful bill. There's been a lot of other, uh, tension points, but it did pass the Senate back to the House. 4:34 I am in a Slack group with Daniel Chung, who is from Aviation Tax Consultants. 4:38 For those that are in the transaction world are probably familiar with Daniel, and he said, yes, it has passed the Senate, but it still has to go back to the House, where they're gonna then beat it up again. 4:49 But in both versions, 100% what we know as bonus depreciation is coming back, and that is great news for a lot of people who don't like paying taxes. Uh, it's good news. Looks like it's coming back. 5:02 Yeah, I mean, not only coming back, but the current version, and again, who knows where this actually ends up, but it makes it retroactive back to 2022. It- well, no, sorry, 2023 technically, 'cause December 31st of 2022 5:16 you get 100% depreciation all the way back to then, which is wild. I, I think, so Daniel explained it to me like this, is that, um, it's... There is some language in there about January 19th, 2025. 5:31 That's kind of- Mm-hmm... like another line in the sand, and I think no one's really sure exactly how that whole retroactive thing is gonna shake out. 5:40 Um, it's good news for the future, uh, and it's really good news for those people that got delayed to the end of January instead of the beginning of January. Uh, it's terrible news for those that closed on January 4th. 5:51 Yeah. That's- it's, it's not good. So, uh, but yeah, I, I think that it's, it's definitely gonna create a tailwind. 5:57 I had- I have created some graphs if you wanna go look at-prestonholland.com, you can see my most recent newsletter where I talk about the history of bonus depreciation, which is, and I made some nice little graphs and things like that. 6:09 And one thing is that this is not the first time, and probably, and it will be permanent, right? 6:15 So it's not the first time we've had 100% bonus depreciation, but it is definitely pr- it's proposed to be permanent, so that would be net positive. 6:23 KJ McCarter at Aviation Tax Consultants said the important part about the 100% being permanent for airplanes is there is no 1031 like-kind exchange for airplanes. Hmm. I didn't know that. 6:35 I didn't understand exactly how that worked. 6:36 When you step up in your basis, I'm gonna lose some people here with, with this math, but essentially is your, your remaining cost basis gets taxed as ordinary income, and so kind of the difference between your depreciated amount and your sale price gets taxed as ordinary income. 6:51 Now, with 100% you're, if you're rolling into the next purchase, it essentially gets wiped out, right? Assuming that you're stepping up and not stepping down in purchase price. 7:00 But that is, you know, having 100% is huge for people moving from one aircraft to another aircraft. Oh, yeah. 7:06 No, I mean, there, this, for aviation, for, for the rich people that buy airplanes that need the tax benefit, and the aviation infrastructure and everybody else, this is great because there's not a lot of places that you can put money into and get 100% depreciation at this level. 7:21 Um, you know, unless you're buying a yacht that you're putting into service or an airplane you're putting into service, it's hard to get this much money. But also there's other pieces in there. 7:28 There's a research and experimental expensing section, which could help aviation firms that are, say, researching new technologies and new airframes and technol- um, different things like that. 7:38 Uh, and there's also the business interest deductibility, which gives you a more favorable formula for higher interest deductions, um, which also has, you know, in your world, the finance and leasing world, some, some positive impacts. 7:51 Yeah, we love that provision because, uh, people af- often ask me, "Who's your number one competitor?" Uh, and it's the balance sheet, it's cash. 7:59 And so if interest, uh, expense becomes deductible and you have 100% bonus depreciation, the formula for financing your aircraft becomes even more, uh, attractive, right? 8:11 Because you're not having to calculate, uh, versus your hurdle rate, like what is, what do I need to have from an internal rate of return standpoint? I can now deduct that interest as an expense. 8:21 So although it's not gonna be a one for one, right? And this is not tax advice, uh, so don't listen to us for tax advice. But it's not a one for one, you know, you don't pay a dollar in interest and save a dollar. 8:30 It's, you know, pay a dollar in interest and you save your effective rate. But it's gonna blend your effective cost of capital will actually lower, which is great. 8:39 Uh, it means that you're less sensitive to interest rate fluctuations, and, you know, if Trump has his way, then he's going to force interest rates to come down. We'll see. I don't know. 8:50 I'm not 100% sure if he'll be able to, but, uh, but we shall see. I know that he is, he is posturing to put pressure on the Fed to bring interest rates down. Yeah. Yeah, we'll have to see. 9:00 Like, if nothing else, there is nothing negative in this, um, unless maybe you're like one of those green companies, because I think there have been a lot of provisions pulled out, uh, that were incentivizing SAF or other green technologies. 9:12 That is obviously not a priority of the current administration. Um, but for everybody else who's building traditional aircraft and vehicles, uh, you're in good hands at the moment. Yep, exactly. 9:24 And those that really don't like paying taxes, you know, we, we have ranted and raved, and no one likes paying taxes, so that's good news. We shall see how fast it takes. 9:33 I mean, look, we're, we're knocking on the, we're knocking on the summer holiday right now, you know. 9:38 Nothing like government to take six weeks off in the middle of things needing to be done, but we're kind of, you know, we're, we're on the edge, so maybe, maybe they'll pass it before that. 9:47 Maybe it'll sit in limbo for, for a period of time. But it will definitely, when the announcement comes, it will be definitely, uh, a boom time for private aviation, which is great. Yeah. 9:58 And I wanna put in one caveat too. I think a lot of people look at this and go, "Oh, these are just incentives for the rich," you know? 10:03 But at the end of the day, the reason these incentives work is because instead of the rich, you know, putting their money somewhere else, they're actually putting it in equipment, especially American-manufactured equipment and production capability. 10:15 So the economic concept of this is we're gonna incentivize people with a lot of money to buy expensive equipment that creates great jobs and great economies. 10:25 So for all the haters out there, there actually, I do think this is a really effective way of boosting production and the economy, but, uh, we'll see how it all works out. Yeah, absolutely. 10:35 And that might actually, what, while we're talking about manufacturing, might bring us into our next story about Dassault Falcon Jet has decided to open up some expanded manufacturing in India, which is not a place that everybody thinks about immediately when, you know, when you think about, uh, airplane manufacturing. 10:57 You think of Israel, you think of France, you think of Germany, you think of, you know, a lot of European countries, the United States, Mexico even, not necessarily India. So that's, uh, that- Yeah. 11:10 Uh, I was reading a lot about this because I find it very fascinating. 11:12 This is the first, I mean, real, there, there is some aerospace manufacturing in India, but there's no one really doing, you know, large airframes like this. 11:20 There are like some, some Russian aircraft that were being built there, some drones. But this is required because Dassault just sold the government around $8 billion worth of Rafael fighter jets. 11:30 So part of the investment in that technology means that that company needs to turn around and actually invest in manufacturing in India. 11:38 So apparently, the military side said, "Okay, we're gonna ship off the production of the Falcon 2000LXS to India," and a French airplane. This will be the first Indian-made airplane we've seen.It's true. 11:52 You know, the Indians have a long time history with, uh, the British, and, uh, now it's time for the French to come in, to come in and, and start making [laughs] making impacts. 12:01 I think that, uh, my- one of my favorite parts of, of this whole... So Corporate Jet Investor has a pretty... 12:06 Alastair wrote a really solid article on this, and one of my favorite, uh, phrases from this is, "Make in India for the world." And I'm like, in self-reli- self-reliant India, I get that. 12:17 But make in India for the world, I can't help but wonder if that's a transla- that's a little bit of lost in translation. Mm-hmm. 12:24 Like, I bet that sounds a lot more clever in the native language [laughs] than it does in English, but- Yeah... like, make in India for the world just kind of doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Yeah. No. 12:36 It doesn't have, like, the same MAGA punch to it, does it? [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] Exactly. They should've, they should've called the Trump administration and been like, "Well, how should we brand this?" 12:44 Like, you're really good at one-liners, right? Yeah. Like, and nicknames. He's really good at nicknames too. But yeah. So, uh, so it's, it's, it's a joint venture. 12:52 Airbus actually has two large facilities in In- in India, so this is not their fir- this is not India's first, you know, first look at airplane manufacturing. 13:02 The, uh, the one thing that this article points out is the fact that there's not a ton of confidence that it's going to necessarily spark... India's a growing market for business aviation. 13:13 It's not necessarily gonna spark, like, oh, now there's gonna be a lot of, you know, airplanes in India bought from Dassault. Um- Yeah... it, it's just really hard to own airplanes in India. Yes. 13:24 The Indian registry is not exactly friendly to, uh, outside capital. Yeah. 13:29 It's also, I mean, they've- there's a lot of other challenges in India, like lack of hangar space, so you have a lot of aircraft sitting outside in really hot conditions [laughs] all the time, uh, amongst other things. 13:39 But, I mean, I think it's interesting. I think it's smart of India to, you know, push these companies. Like, hey, you wanna do business with us, you know, you need to boost our more sophisticated manufacturing. 13:49 We don't w- just wanna make your T-shirts and your jeans. And also for geopolitical purposes, it's good to have Europe and India working together instead of, you know, let's say Europe and China working together. 13:59 So I- I get where it's coming from. I wonder, how is the labor pool going to be? There's a lot of engineers in India, but a lot of them get poached from other countries, so I... 14:10 It will be interesting to see how well they can staff the operation in that area. 14:14 There is some aerospace manufacturing, but not nearly, you know, I think kind of the level and the extent that we're talking about at this point. Yeah. Yeah. I think that there's... 14:23 There was this, the same question was asked of Mexico when a lot of nearshoring started moving to Mexico. 14:28 I think that when you look at making these investments, I think that Dassault now has a training component that they're gonna have to figure out. And assembling a airplane is a lot different than assembling a car, right? 14:42 Like, if you have some sort of, you know, error with a car, like, you kind of roll to a stop and pull off on the side of the road. Uh, if it's an airplane, um, a little bit different. And so- Yeah... 14:54 I, I think that they're gonna definitely... It may slow down. Dassault has a reputation for being slow at manufacturing. 15:00 It may make it even a little bit slower, but frankly, I'm not 100% sure Dassault cares as much about... I mean, look at the backlog numbers. 15:09 There's 70- at the end of 2024, 79 Falcons on backlog and 220 Rafaels on backlog. So, like, which one are you gonna put your priority in, right? [laughs] Um, there's just, you know... 15:21 It, it's, it's a, it's a niche, it's a niche aircraft. Uh, there's not a lot of large fleets buying them- Uh-huh... uh, or no large, no large fleets buying them, not a lot of fleets that operate them. 15:31 They don't charter all that often, so I think that there's, um... It, it's, it's gonna be interesting. Uh, no mention of the 9X. Are we on 9X? We- 10X eventually will get here, right? Mm. We're on 9X currently, I think. 15:47 Yeah. No, no mention of that, so that'll stay, that'll stay in France, but the 2000 LXS will be moving to India. Yeah. Well, let's see how it goes, and who knows? 15:56 Maybe one day, uh, India will be making a whole bunch of business aircraft. I, I... It's been a big trend in the yacht industry. 16:01 You know, there's a lot of yachts that are now made in China, that are made in Turkey, you know, that I think a lot of people are always like, "Well, who's gonna buy, you know, a San Lorenzo made here or there?" 16:11 But, like, it's, it does happen, so we'll... I, I don't think it'll affect the customers too much, but I guess that remains to be seen. All right. 16:18 Well, you were on vacation last week and completely unplugged, so you don't have anything for our [laughs] social media madness- I was... segment this week. 16:25 [laughs] I literally didn't, I didn't log into social media for, like, six days. It was awesome. [laughs] If you haven't done it in a while, can high- I highly recommend. 16:33 So yeah, I, [laughs] I was literally completely removed from social media. Have no idea what's going on out there. All right. 16:39 Well, so my one of the week, which I think everyone will get a nice kick out of, [laughs] but... 16:44 So here is an image of a lovely, I think it's a King Air 90 or some variant similar to that, uh, I can't even remember what airfield this was on, landing on the roof of a building. 16:56 And FBO Memes, which is a great source of aviation memes, as long as you are not easily offended because some of their stuff is pretty highly offensive. 17:04 But if you like it, uh, [laughs] unfortunately you're still gonna have to pay your landing fees, [laughs] they say, even if you landed on top of a building. We gon' get you. [laughs] Those landing fees gon' get you. 17:17 They gon' get you. They're gonna send you, they're gonna send you a bill. I know you've got about a million dollars worth of damage to repair- [laughs]... but you owe us your $340 'cause you didn't buy enough fuel. 17:28 I tell you, I am so impressed with this guy, though. I mean, no one was hurt, no injuries. 17:32 Obviously, the plane's probably totaled, but to land on top of a building with minimal, uh, impact on human life or limb, it's pretty amazing, honestly. Yeah. Yeah, no kidding. It's a... 17:44 I, I am, I am very impressed with that pilotage. If you find something good, send it to us. 17:48 And while, while you're there, while you have your phone out, you're browsing social media, go like us on LinkedIn and go follow us on YouTube. Hit like, subscribe, hit the notification bell. 18:00 I don't know, whatever your favorite influencers say- Mm-hmm... 18:02 to grow their channels, go do that while you're there, and fo- and engage with us on social media and, uh, we'd love to talk to you.And speaking of landing fees, um, the ADSB battle is continuing over these landing fees. 18:14 This has been going on for a couple months. I feel like there were some state legislative actions happening around using ADSB information for nuisance lawsuits and making money off of people. 18:24 It was supposed to be a safety program, but here we are with Big Brother knowing where your airplane is at every given moment, and there's possible new legislation in the house to stop this. 18:34 Yeah, I think that this has been a, um, subject of sensitivity for a while. 18:40 We can, I am officially, if this has not been dubbed yet, I'm gonna officially dub this the Jack Sweeney Law for ADSB because Elon Jet and Taylor Swift Jet and Jeff Bezos Jet and all of those, the tracking Twitter accounts brought a lot of this to, to the mainstream media's forefront, right? 18:59 We in business aviation have known that this has existed for a while. We understand that safety is a big thing. 19:05 We need to understand that safety is obviously first and foremost of our passengers and of everybody involved, and privacy is tied to safety. We need to not, you know, not negate that. 19:17 But ADSB has been abused a bit by both the government and by private industry, um, to probably walk outside of the scope of what it was originally intended for. 19:30 It was originally intended to create airspace separation between aircraft and have some really good safety in place in order to do that. And so but a lot of that has just, has gotten way out of control. Mm-hmm. 19:45 You have these networks of, of ADSB information. I think the hard part, the, the thing I think people aren't necessarily thinking about with this is how long this is gonna take. 19:56 Like, that, the internet is forever is like a saying, and that data h- is out there, and until you change aircraft, like it's still gonna be out there, and it's still- Yes... 20:06 gonna be accessible for at least a little while. Plus the number of FOIA requests that people can do to actually get to information. 20:13 I mean, even Jack Sweeney, I interviewed him like a year ago, and even he said, you know, "Okay, they can come out with this new program, that new program. I can always find a way through FOIA to figure out who it is." 20:22 And I'm like, "Eh, yeah, you're not, probably not wrong there." A- and I think that's, that's the challenge that we're in today. 20:28 Like, and just like, you know, getting a ticket with your car from a camera and all these other things, like there's all these new tools that people can use to charge you fees and go after you. How do we deal with that? 20:38 I don't really know. I know that, I mean, the reauthorization bill last that was passed, you know, had provisions to improve the privacy protections of airplanes, but how realistic is it? 20:49 And will we ever get to a point where Big Brother isn't watching you all the time? I just don't know if it's gonna be feasible. Yeah. 20:56 I, um, here is my, my hot take, is using fees for, using ADSB to charge landing fees is like the tip. You know when you go and you pay for a coffee, and the tip pops up, and it starts at like 30%? Oh, my God. 21:12 [laughs] And like, and you're, a- and there's not really a button that says like, "No," like, or custom tip, right? This feels a lot like that, okay? Yeah. 21:19 I rant and rave against, [laughs] against unnecessary tipping for to-go orders and coffee. Uh- Yeah... and this is a heck of a lot like that. If you're using, if you're using that information to charge ramp fees for 21:34 somebody who, like, look, if you use, if you utilize a facility, if you walk through a signature, if you go get you a cup of coffee, you go get your free water bottle, your pilots go hang out in the pilot lounge, you know, use the bathroom, all that kind of stuff, you should pay your landing fees. 21:49 Right. But if Signature is going to hit up the general aviation aircraft that landed, and they have the right to collect fees at the airport, like that's getting a little bit ridiculous. I don't know. 22:01 I think it's a sign of the times. I think it's just gonna happen anyway, and like if you landed somewhere, you landed somewhere. 22:06 The thing I have a problem with is like the FAA issued a citation, now they don't know that it was ADSB, but they assume, because how else would they, they know it? 22:14 But there was a seaplane that had been taking off from this area, and the FAA issued them a fine for taking off under, or flying around under 500 feet or something like that. 22:23 And I'm like, "Well, that's, that's not cool." Like, you can't, especially the FAA to issue it. You know, it's a safety program, and you're using it to fine someone doing something wrong. 22:31 There's a lot of other people doing a lot worse things out there than that seaplane pilot. Maybe focus your efforts on that instead of using ADSB data for it. Yeah, exactly. 22:41 And Martha Lunkin got busted for this, flipping off her ADSB transmitter and going under a bridge. I will let the audience decide on the debate for that- [laughs]... 22:50 of whether they, whether she should've gotten busted or not for that. All right. Well, let's quickly touch on this story. We don't need to go into it too much because we already talked about this a couple months ago. 23:00 So at Charter Flight Group, the CEO had sent a text message to one of our favorite reporters out there in business aviation. He covers the whole industry. 23:08 But he was highlighting a new lawsuit that is against Charter Flight Group. 23:13 Um, apparently in this case, uh, this was a repatriation flight to go back to Israel after October 7th, and the agency paid the group $630,000, and the flight never took place, and he is being obligated to return those funds, which seems totally fair. 23:30 He can still appeal it, but this is one of four lawsuits mentioned in the article currently against Charter Flight Group, and kind of reminds you maybe don't text mean things to reporters that cover your industry. Yeah. 23:44 We have talked about this once before. [laughs] Don't create vendettas against people in the industry. Yeah. People will say what they're going to say, but, you know, just let them say it sometimes. 23:54 And, um, don't, don't send really incriminating text messages to people with a large media outlet. I feel like a broken record a little bit on that topic. 24:04 No, I think, again, we talked about this last time, it's, it's tough to see. Look, everybody, e- every business has troubles, and every, every business gets sued. I'm sure- Mm-hmm... 24:14 if there was equal reporting on-Other charter companies that were getting sued, it would be similar. Mm-hmm. Um, so I think, I, I think that as, as you, as you... 24:25 I have a little bit of empathy for Jordan and for, for those people that are associated with his team. I think, you know, run a tight business, run a clean ship as best as you can, and don't make an enemy in the media. 24:39 I think that's like [laughs] that's my, my public service advice to Jordan. So- Totally... uh, yeah, t- it's, it's tough. I, I hope that it gets resolved. 24:46 You know, it kinda seems like one gets resolved and another one gets filed the next day, and, uh, that's, that's kinda tough. So, but yeah. Yeah. But we'll, we'll see what happens. Yeah, I don't see... 24:56 The lawsuits are not necessarily a black mark against a company. Like, we don't know the internal things that happened, especially for a broker. 25:02 You know, you're, you've got very, very large funds going back and forth, and you're a middleman for them. This is kind of the scary part of being stuck in the middle [laughs] is making two parties agree with you. 25:13 Um, and I mean, who knows? I don- I don't know the full story, and, uh, but man, that's just, just not, just not good. Just keep your, keep yourself flying low out there and off the radar. Um, it's the best policy. 25:26 Speaking of off the radar. Sorry. [laughs] Speaking of off the radar- This is just dumb... um, which I didn't even plan that. It just kind of came- I know. That was so good... you know, like it was just there. 25:34 That was so good. That was too good. But my favorite story of the last week is did you know the, what the best thing to go with a turkey sandwich is? No. A freedom Dorito is what it is. [laughs] So [laughs] 25:47 That is awesome. [laughs] Uh, America's favorite plane this week, the B-2 bomber, which delivered, what was it, like 16 MOPS or something like that in Iran. 25:57 You know, like w- we're not political, but we can shout out to the Air Force and the Navy and everybody else who did a pretty insane job, uh, with their mission over the last week. 26:07 But I cannot believe the B-2 only has two pilots in it, and they flew a 36-hour mission. That is brutal. That is a long way for two people to fly. I wonder, i- is... Here's something that I would like to Google. 26:21 Is the B-2 bomber single pilot certified? It must be, right? They have to sleep if you're gonna fly for 40 hours. I don't think, I don't think, I mean, I don't know what it is. Maybe they allow, like, controlled napping. 26:33 You know, the great thing about being the military is you can kinda do whatever you want to do if you need to. [laughs] True. It's not like, unlike FARs, but I mean, they have a chemical toilet. 26:42 There's only two pilots in there. I had to look up the cockpit. It is incredibly small. I mean, they don't have a lot of space in there, but they train themselves- Yeah... 26:49 on the best foods to eat, so they have minimal digestion. So turkey sandwiches with no cheese is one of the pilot's favorite go-tos. Is the B-2 bomber more awkward to go to the bathroom than the PC-12? 27:00 That's the question. Probably. It's a close- I'm gonna go with probably. Yeah, probably. Close, close second, though. Close second. [laughs] True. What is it with Americans and loving turkey? 27:13 Another PSA, turkey sucks, okay? I said it. What? [laughs] I don't like turkey at Thanksgiving. I don't, but I tolerate it. I really don't like it at Christmas, Easter. It's like you eat turkey all the freaking time. 27:26 It's like Americans love turkey. Well, it's incredibly cheap and apparently the blandest food out there because these pilots like to eat them so that they have enough calories, but nothing really happens otherwise. 27:40 They're just, uh, they're good to go for 36 hours straight. I will agree that it is the blandest food ever. Um, I, I think, I think all Americans can agree on that point. Um, yeah, that's, uh, that's pretty crazy. 27:52 I am super thankful for our military, and if you listen to this and you served, I wanna say thank you. And with July 4th coming up, uh, it's America's birthday. 28:02 We got one more year, and then it'll be 250, and, uh, you know, another 750 to go. So- Yeah... uh, yeah. [laughs] So thank, thank you for all those that, uh, that have served out there, especially the B-2 bomber pilots. 28:16 You are the most BA of the group. Well, and unfortunately, the, the freedom Dorito will not be operational for too much longer because the military does have plans to replace it with 100 B-21 Raiders. 28:28 What nickname will we come up with then for our bombers? Because I don't think anything tops freedom Dorito. It's just so much fun. It's so American. [laughs] That's exactly right. I mean, yeah, exactly. 28:38 It's like, uh, yeah, b- something boomerang, but that's Australian, right? Like there's just, there's, there's nothing more Dorit- there's nothing more American than a Dorito. 28:46 [laughs] But apparently, uh, compared to the $65,000 an hour operating cost of the B-2, the B-1 only costs 60,000 an hour after spending- A bargain. A bargain... 2 billion each to build. 29:00 [laughs] 2 billion is a unfathomable number. Honestly, if you think about operating cost to, uh, manufacturing cost, I feel like that's not that bad, to be honest. Like- Could be... could be worse. 29:15 Like 60- I'm just glad we got to use it for a while... as a percentage, as a percentage, I mean, you think about a $75 million Gulf Stream. 29:20 Like, if you, if you, like, if you took percentage ratios, like 60,000 an hour is not that bad. Yeah. Well, as an American, I'm just very proud of our air power. That was kinda fun to see over the last week. 29:32 I mean, you know, don't want anyone to get hurt or anything in the world, but, uh, pretty cool to see jet fuel in use. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, I think that brings us to the end. 29:41 I hope everybody has a excellent July 4th weekend. 29:45 If you're in a state that allows fireworks, I hope that you shoot them off, and if you're in a state that doesn't allow fireworks, I hope you drive somewhere that lets you buy some. So- [laughs] And safety first, folks. 29:56 No kids lighting those things off, and back away as soon as you light 'em, please. Back it up, Terry. [laughs] If you know that reference, if you know that reference, you are of my age or similar, so. Oh, yes. 30:06 Don't forget to back it up, Terry, and, uh, we will see you next week after the 4th of July. Hopefully nothing crazy happens during this next week. 30:14 But if it does, you can rely on the VIP seat to be here with the spicy takes on those. So we will see you next week
